The Ultimate Test
by AllusionToAnIllusion
Summary: Suddenly, she doesn't know what to believe anymore.


**Caution: SPOILERS.**

**This was based on some spoiler footage I recently watched where it shows that Castle is arrested by Beckett for murder. The inspiration just started from there and this is what came of it. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, absolutely nothing. Not even the ink they use when printing the Castle scripts, or the pens they use to write down ideas. **

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The warm air swirled around her as she passed a fan in the gloomy hallway. But it was meant to be gloomy, designed so that nobody would ever want to come back. In the daytime it wasn't so bad, the metal bars and grungy floors the only real intimidating things about it. But when the sun went down the room transformed. Now it was dim, with one of the fluorescent bulbs that attempted to light it flickering in the distance. Now, this was the definition of gloom. Everything seemed to be some shade of gray, even the people. However today there was only one person there, and he sat in the cell right in front of her.

She wasn't used to seeing him as gray, gloomy and sad. This man was always bursting with color; he had a vibrancy to him that she hadn't seen in a long time. Until she had met him, she hadn't thought this much energy could be found in a fully-grown man. But what she hadn't realized then was that the person sitting in front of her was not always a man, most of the time he was a child. A happy go lucky kid without a care in the world. He was immature, annoying, arrogant, the list went on and on in her head. But for each fault there were two positives. He was sweet, funny, caring, a great father, handsome and intelligent. That list went on longer. But now his energy was gone, his vibrancy dulled until everything about him was gray. Richard Castle was sitting on the floor behind those metal bars looking defeated.

The only thing she couldn't figure out was how he had gotten there. Well, she had put him there. She had found him standing over the dead body of a woman holding a gun; therefore she had to put him in there. No matter how painful and confusing it might have been to do so. What she couldn't figure out was why. Why she had found him standing with a gun and a dead woman lying on the bed beside him. She'd spent the entire day trying to find the answer to this question, and nothing had come. She saw no reason as to why this could've happened. Castle would never do anything like this it wasn't his nature. Castle may write about murder, but he could never commit it. This man was her partner; she had been through almost everything with him. And if there was one thing she had learned to do since they first met it was to trust him. And now she didn't know what to do, she wanted to believe he had nothing to do with this but the evidence was stacked highly against him. She had once told him that when she found a man standing over a dead body with a gun he was usually the one who did it, now she wasn't so sure.

She looked down at his sleeping form and sighed, this was too much to deal with. She had been nervous about seeing Castle for the first time since he sauntered out of the precinct with his ex-wife on his arm just when she was going to take a chance on them already, and now it was even more confusing and nerve-racking. Now the man she had grown to, dare she say it, love was sitting in a cell being charged for murder. This couldn't be happening, it had to be some sort of nightmare. The entire day she had caught herself lightly pinching herself in an attempt to wake up from this mess, obviously it hadn't worked. It hadn't worked because this was no dream this was reality. No matter how tough it was to deal with. Tears were welling up in her eyes and she tried her hardest to hold them back, she was not going to cry over this. This was nothing to her, she could handle this. Oh, who was she kidding? This was huge and there was no way she was going to walk away from this unscathed. Getting away from this mess unaffected was not going to happen, no matter how much she wanted it to.

Her vision continued to blur as she fought the tears back in a fury. She was angry. Angry with him for doing this, angry with herself for believing he could do something like this, she was even angry because she had a solid case. But it was a solid case against him, that's what really got her. He couldn't have done this and yet she had pieces and pieces of evidence that said otherwise. She hadn't even had the heart to interrogate him, she had tried but as soon as she looked into his pleading eyes she had to get out of there.

She wished she could just leave all of this behind, just escape to someplace where she didn't have to worry about murder, or unanswered questions, or Castle.

"You know, I didn't do it." She looked down when she heard his voice, he still appeared to be sleeping but his breathing had changed since she last looked at him. In the interrogation room, his denials had been pleas. Begging her to understand, to believe. But now they were just statements, ones full of defeat and acceptance.

"I really want to believe that, Castle. You have no idea how much I want that to be the truth." The tears spilled over now as they won the battle. But who really cared if she cried? The only person around was Castle, and she had a feeling he would understand. Castle peered up at her for a moment before rising to his feet and moving to the metal bars, holding his arms out through them. Letting go of that little voice in her head telling her to run out that door she ran in the opposite direction, straight into his arms. As soon as he closed them around her body she felt warm, she felt safe. Even though she was partially pressed against the cool metal of the grey bars she felt his warmth radiate from all around her.

They stayed like that for a while, hugging through the bars of the cell. Him whispering to her that it was going to be fine and occasionally kissing her head lightly while she sobbed into his chest. As the tears subsided and she stopped shaking she felt him pull back slightly but before he could get too far she tightened her grip around his torso, holding him close. She wasn't ready to let go of him; especially if tomorrow went the way she thought it might. She suspected that there might be a conviction, and for the first time in her career she was dreading it.

"The evidence is piled high against you." She murmured into her chest, but she could tell he heard it when his arms tightened slightly around her.

"I know," he replied sadly, "I'm going to end up in prison."

"You might not," she could hear the sorrow in his voice and it was going to break her again, "we might find something."

"You might," he agreed, "but at this point I don't really care what happens to me. All I care about what happens to my family. What will mother and Alexis think of me? How am I supposed to raise Alexis from a prison cell? I can't stop thinking about how this will affect their lives forever." Suddenly she felt tears on her head, he was crying. In all of the time she had known Richard Castle, he had never cried. He didn't seem like the type of man who cried often or easily. It touched her to see just how much he loved his family.

She didn't know how to comfort him, she wasn't completely sure there was even a way. She wanted to tell him everything was going to be fine, but she didn't know that. For all she knew there was a solid case built against him and he was going to go away for a long time. She wasn't going to blatantly lie to him and say it was going to be okay when it probably wasn't. So she just held him closer to her and moved his head so she was cradling it between her hands and her heart. Whenever she heard a soft whimper she would tighten her grip and will everything to be okay. It had to be; she wouldn't let this happen to him.

"Castle," she finally said, "I only have one question. I need you to answer it honestly. Okay?"

"Okay." He sobered up but didn't move his head from where it was resting. She was thankful for that, she didn't think she could look him in the eye when she asked this. There was a long pause before she made herself continue.

"Did you murder that girl?" She choked it out and she felt his body tense up. She didn't want to ask it, she almost backed down many times. But she needed to know the answer and if one thing was still intact between them it was trust. She trusted him with her life and whatever his answer was she would believe it. She knew that he wouldn't lie about something like this, he may be an asshole sometimes, but Castle was always honest with her when it came to the important stuff. He pulled back and looked into her eyes.

"No." And she could tell he was telling the truth. She was trained to pick up the signs that people were lying, that they had something they were hiding. And as she stared back into his eyes she saw nothing but pure honesty. She leaned in and gently kissed his cheek before sliding to the ground to sit by the bars. He followed and grabbed a hold of her hand, stroking the back of it with his thumb. They sat in silence, only the sounds of the city penetrating their world as they drifted into sleep.

She awoke early the next morning when she felt a hand shaking her shoulder. Tentatively opening her eyes she found herself looking up at Ryan as he peered down at her. She was about to ask him what the hell he was doing in her bedroom when the memories returned. The first time she'd seen Castle in months, the fact that he was being charged for murder and the events of the night before. Her hand was still tightly held in his and her head was pressed against his chest through the cold poles. She began to rise from the hard floor and felt the aches and pains starting to surface as a result of spending the night on an uncomfortable floor. She paused for a moment, contemplating whether she should let go of his hand or not. Finally she tore her fingers away from his and brushed them along his jaw line. She stood and followed Ryan out of the room. As she started walking down the hallway she glanced back at his cell, swearing she would do anything to get him out of there.

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**Well, reviews are appreciated. :)**


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